Light emitting diode (LEDs) have been used in many applications such as outdoor full colour displays, traffic lights, data storage, solid state lighting and communications. Presently, LEDs can only emit light at a particular wavelength. White LEDs are made up of three separate LEDs emitting light with the three primary colours of blue, green and red. Conventional diodes are made from inorganic compound semiconductors, typically AlGaAs (red), AlInGaP (orange-yellow-green) and InGaN (green-blue). These diodes emit monochromatic light of a frequency corresponding to the bandgap of the compound semiconductor. The difference in the degradation time of these different materials can cause the problem in the extent of white obtained over time. This also applies for the phosphor-based white LEDs, where the different rates of deterioration of the phosphors makes the lifetime for which the device can generate white light shorter than the lifetime of the devices itself. An additional problem with this approach include a low emission efficiency, stock losses and complex packaging as a phosphor layer has to be incorporated into the devices, which leads to a non-reliability of the LEDs. In full color displays, LEDs are used in backlighting and it is essential that the LEDs emit light with a constant ratio of intensity for the respective component wavelengths.
In phosphor based LEDs, phosphor coating can be used to convert blue LEDs to light over a wider spectrum, typically yellow. The combination of yellow and blue light enables the emission of white light. Alternatively, a multi-phosphor blend can be used to generate light such as trichromatic red-green-blue (RGB). However, the extent of the yellow, green or cyan is not tunable as the phosphor can emit light only at a particular wavelength. Furthermore, the approach is expensive and complex since each of the blue, green and red LEDs has to be addressed independently and a feedback is needed.
Amongst LEDs, group III-nitride based LEDs have attracted considerable interest in the field of optoelectronics as their bandgap varies and cover a wide range of emission spectra from ultraviolet to infra-red utilising binary and ternary alloys e.g. AlN, AlxGa1-xN, InyGa1-yN and InN. InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) are often employed in the active regions of the group III-nitride based LEDs and laser diodes (LDs). However, the epitaxial growth of InGaN/GaN MQWs poses a great challenge, especially when high In content has to be incorporated for long wavelength applications such as green or red LEDs. Furthermore, the light output efficiency tends to be lowered for light emission with increasing wavelength or higher In incorporation. Lowering the growth temperature results in the increase in the incorporation of In but a reduction in the Photoluminescence (PL) intensity as the crystalline quality is degraded.
Recently, Indium quantum dots have been explored by Chua et al. [Soo Jin Chua et al. US 2004/0023427 A1, Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2004] to achieve a red-shift in the PL emission. Indium Nitride (InN) and Indium-rich Indium Gallium Nitride (InGaN) quantum dots embedded in a single and in multiple IxGa1-xN/InyGa1-yN quantum wells (QWs) were formed by using trimethylIndium (TMIn) as antisurfactant during MOCVD growth, and the photoluminescence wavelength has been shifted from 480 to 530 nm [J. Zhang et. al. Appl. Phys. Lett. v80, p 485-487, 2002]. However, the growth of the LEDs using such a technique gives only green emission from the MQWs. There is currently no possibility of getting a red emission from InGaN/GaN MQWs. Perez-Solorzano and co-workers [Perez-Solorzano et al. Appl. Phys. Lett. v87, p 163121-1, 2005] have reported on near-red emission from site controlled pyramidal InGaN quantum dots (QDs), however there is no report on a GaN based LED giving red emission. Practical visible red-orange and yellow light sources have been achieved using AlInGaP, while bright green, blue and violet LEDs are fabricated from GaN based material system. However, even though these diodes, when added together, give a full color display with sufficient brightness, there is no single MQW structure which can emit light with tunable wavelength.
US Patent application publication US 2005/0082543 discloses fabrication of low defect nanostructures of wide bandgap materials and optoelectronics devices. A nanolithographically-defined template is utilised for formation of nanostructures of wide bandgap materials and has been used for fabrication of phosphor-less monolithic white light emitting diodes. The fabrication involves the tuning of the size of the QDs to generate light of different wavelengths. White light is collectively generated by mixing of QDs sized to generate 30% red light, 59% green light and 11% blue light. The nano-pattern substrate includes the use of SiO2 or other pattern masks using lithography techniques. Thus, the fabrication requires a special template to generate the formation of the QDS pattern to give the different colour emission, which increases the complexity and cost of the resulting LEDs.
US Patent application publication US 2003/127660 A1 discloses an electronic device which comprises of QDs embedded in a host matrix and a primary light source which causes the dots to emit secondary light of a selected colour. The host matrix consists of a solid transparent prepolymer colloid and the quantum dots of varying size distribution. The quantum dot consists of materials such as ZnS ZnSe, CdSe and CdS. A solid state light source, for instance, is used to illuminate the dots causing them to photoluminescence light of a colour characteristic of their size distribution. The light may be pure colour (corresponding to a monodisperse size distribution of quantum dots) or mixed colour (corresponding to a polydisperse size distribution of quantum dots). However, again the fabrication requires a special “template”, here a host matrix of polymer. Furthermore, the fabrication requires the implementation of QDs which use foreign materials, which may quench the luminescence. Thus, this fabrication technique is complex and thus increases cost of the LEDs, with potentially quenched luminescence.
A need therefore exist to provide a light emitting device that seeks to address at least one of the above problems.